Best Places48104, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 48104, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
48104 ranks 5,181st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 48104
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
48104's strengths and weaknesses
Where 48104 ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 99% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of zip codes
Where 48104 ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 48104
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 48104 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $86,987, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 48104's effective rate of 1.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 48104
48104 runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 48104.
Who works in 48104, and how
Work in 48104 centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 39%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 34%
Life in 48104
48104 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 94% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 48104 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 48104, month by month
48104 sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 57° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of 48104
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 20 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 48104
Schools across 48104 average an A−, better than 86% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Ann Arbor Steam At Northside SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Wines Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Martin Luther King Elem SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clague Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Tappan Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Slauson Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Community High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Skyline High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Pioneer High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 48104 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
48104 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 48104 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 48104 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 27% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 48104
Is 48104 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 48104 ranks 5,181st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on an educated workforce, transit, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 48104 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $586,497. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $86,987 median income, cost of living beats 46% of zip codes.
Is 48104 safe?
48104 is safer than 19% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $542 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 48104?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 17. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of zip codes.
Is 48104 good for families?
Schools beat 86% of zip codes, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $1,094 a month.
Compare 48104 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 48104. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 48104 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
48104 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 48104: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 48104: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 48104: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 48104: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
48104 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.